THE BOMBYCINE MOTHS OF AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO. 
OOl^T 
I. Introduction. 
II. Hints on the mode of Evolution of the Bristles, 
Spines, and Tubercles of Kotodontian and other 
Caterpillars. 
III. On Certain Points in the external Anatomy of Bom- 
bycine Larvae. 
IV. On the Incongruence between the Larval and Adult 
Characters of Notodontians. ’ 
V. Inheritance of Characters acquired during the Life- 
time of Lepidopterous Larvoa. 
ENTS. 
VI. Geographical Distribution of the American Noto- 
doutidie. 
VII. Phytogeny of the Lopidoptera. 
VIII. Attempt at anew Classification of the Lepidoptera. 
IX. A rational Xomenclature of the Veins of the Wings 
of Insects, especially the Lepidoptera. 
X. Systematic Revision of the Notodontidje, with spec- 
ial Reference to their Transformations. 
I.— INTRODUCTION. 
For some years past the writer lias been collec ing materials for a general accouni, systematic 
and developmental, of our North American Bombycine moths. The leading object or motif of 
the essay has been to collect materials for working oat the origin of the laryal forms of the higlicr 
Lepidoptera, 
The attempt has been made, so far as material and opportunity have allowed, to describe m 
as detailed a \y£Lj as possible the transformations of our Bombycine moths, in the light of the 
rrcent very suggestiv-e and stimulating work of Weismann, entitled Studies in the Theories of 
Descent (1882). Until within a few years the majority of descriptions of caterpillars have been 
prepared simply for the purpose of identification, or for taxonomical uses, and without reference 
to the philosophic or general zoological significance of tliese changes. The transformations of 
some of the European Sphiugidie have been very carefully worked out by Weismann, and also by 
Poulton, but it is believed that the life histories of the lower, more generalized families usually 
referred to the Bombyces, especially of the Notodontidm, Ceratocampidm, Satiirniidie, Hemileu- 
cidm, Cochliopodidm, and Lasiocampidfe, will bring out still more striking and valuable results, 
inasmuch as they, or forms near them now extinct, are believed to be closely similar to the stem 
forms from which many of the higher Lepidoptera have probably been evolved. 
The aim therefore in such studies should be — 
1. To treat the larvm as tliongh they were adult, independent animals, and to work out their 
specific and generic as well as family characters. 
2. To trace the origin of mimetic and protective characters, and to ascertain the time of larval 
life when they are assumed, involving — 
3. The history of the development of the more specialized setae (hairs), spines, tubercles, lines, 
spots, and other markings.^ 
^Besides the work of Weismann, compare also the suggestive papers of E. B. Poulton, in Transactions of the 
Entomological Society of Loudon, 1884-1888, and my papers: Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
xxiv-v, 1890-91. 
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